Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says the government is open to new ideas on how to address crime across the NT

Transcript

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says the government is open to new ideas on how to address crime across the NT · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But you would have heard yesterday on the show Daniel Rochford.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Of course, Tourism Central Australia's CEO joined us and spoke
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to us about some very serious concerns which his board
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: raised when it comes to crime. Now they believe that
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the issue has reached crisis point. It is indeed a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: big call considering that they are the body trying to
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: promote tourism in the Red Center. Now, I will just
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: play a little bit of that audio for you if
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: you missed the interview with Daniel Rochford yesterday, take a
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: listen my members.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Last week we have moved a motion basically describing what
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: we're living with here in Alice Springs is at crisis
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: levels and certainly we're needing urgent support from the Northern
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Territory Government to put additional resources to this because at
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: this very moment, in our opinion, the Northern Territory Government
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: does not have control of the streets at Alice Springs.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: They may be the government, but they do not have
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: control of our streets.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Daniel, it is a massive call for Tourism body to
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: come out to put your necks out, move this motion
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: to say that the Northern Territory government do not have
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: control of crime in Alice Springs. Why have you gone
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: down this path?
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Well, not only are we seeing the statistics all trending
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: upwards significantly, but we are seeing it, we're living it,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: and we're feeling it. I think I nearly speak for
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: every member of this community that says we go to
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: bed at night fearing for have safety and there is
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: utter lawlessness occurring day in day out.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: The Chief Minister, Natasha Files joins me in the studio
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: right now. Good morning to you.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: Good morning, Katie, Good morning listeners.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Chief Minister, how do you feel when you hear that
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: from Daniel Rochford, the CEO of Tourism Central Australia.
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: Daniels someone that I've worked with closely as a Formaturism
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: Minister and someone I have great respect for in terms
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: of the incident.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: It's absolutely appalling.
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: It is unacceptable that that can take place in one
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: of our major centers. The Deputy Chief Minister in Comm
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: Madison is in our springs today. She's already been in
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: contact and we'll be meeting with Daniel and Tourism Central Australia.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: Katie.
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: We've put a number of short term actions but we
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: also are open to different ideas and initiatives and we
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: certainly need to continue to work with the community.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Chief Finister. For a long time, the territory government has
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: claimed that people are talking the territory down when issues
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: such as crime have been raised. We've now got a
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: situation where the group tasked with promoting Central Australia have
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: taken what is an unprecedented step. Do you can see
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: that the government has let this issue go on for
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: way too long?
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: So, Katie, it's a difficult question to answer that specifically
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: in terms of tourism. As I just said, I've worked
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: closely with Daniel and someone I respect, and we always
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: want to be at the table and I think we
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: can never stop in this space. We do need to
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: be agile, We need to have different measures and we
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: will continue to work each and every day. We've put
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: in place a number of measures and we will continue
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: to do so.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: I mean he's saying though the measures that are in
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: place are not working. I mean, when you've got a
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: tourism body who is who's charged with promoting the Northern Territory,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: they're board voting to say that crime is at crisis
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: level and they need intervention right now. They need a
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: stop gap right now. I mean, obviously what's happening is
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: not working.
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: So Katie, we've just had senior official spend significant amount
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: of time some weeks in Aura Springs and driving the
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: coordination because.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Then we still had someone get punched in the face
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: in the tourism center on Monday last week.
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: And so Katie, when making sure that council, government and
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: the private resources that individuals put into place are all
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: working together, and this is there's not a single solution
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: that will simply overcome these issues. And that's why I
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: say it's important to continue to listen and to hear
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: different ideas, and we're absolutely willing to put anything in place.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Is the government pulling out every stop here, every tool
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: in the box to try to stop this disgraceful behavior
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: because like honestly having a sixty one year old it
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: was her birthday. From what Daniel Rochford said, I like,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: it's not only embarrassing, but it is absolutely terrible that
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: you've got a community where they, you know, like he said,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: they're going to bed at night and they're not feeling safe.
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: And Katie, I can talk about the measures that are
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: in place that we will continue to put in place,
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: and we've provided police with resource linking CCTV together, you know,
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: trying to be as agile in this space as we
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: can be. But as I've said, we are also making
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: sure into the future we put more measures in place.
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: And it doesn't have to be our idea. We're absolutely
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: there for the community, listening to them, and I can
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: list the different measures that have been put in place,
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: but I know that be spoken before about those we have.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, is it beyond the government now? Are we
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: at a point just enterprise set? On the show yesterday,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe we need intervention from the army.
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: I think that, you know, another intervention like we saw
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: in two thousand and seven will just cause more trauma
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: and we'll just continue in that.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: She's calling for an actual intervention. I think she's saying
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: that maybe there needs to be a bit of a
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: stop gap here.
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: Well, I think that that's a simplistic slogan grabbing headline
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: where you say we need to call the army in
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: and have an intervention. And what I'm saying is that
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: we will continue to work in this space with business owners,
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: with community members, and with non government organizations.
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: But we've certainly heavily resourced into Alice Springs and will
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: continue to do so.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Mister Rochford did say that there needs to be more
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: done proactively. I mean, should we have more police walking
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: the streets demonstrating a greater police presence or do we
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: need to go down the path of like we have
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: here in Darwin those security measures, the canine security walking
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: around the place.
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: So, Katie, we do have the Public Order Response Unit.
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: There is resources in Central Australia. But that is why
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: the Deputy Chief Minister is meeting with Daniel today and
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: certainly what he imagines from those words, we certainly would
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: look at. And I think it is a balanced police
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: operationally make these decisions. But I certainly and I communicate
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: this to police. When they have a visible presence, it
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: reassures the community and it is an important function of
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: their role.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: So do you feel at the moment that we have
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: enough of that active, that proactive policing on the ground,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: walking around the streets talking Tommunity members.
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: I think police certainly have provided more of that resource
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: over the past few months. And as I said, Katie,
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: it's an operational decision that they have to make each
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: and every day we certainly are making sure police have
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: got the resources. We know that COVID has had a
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: big impact in terms of police were doing other roles
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: and now they have quite a lot of leave there.
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: So actual police numbers overall, but the numbers that are
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: turning up each day for work is something that we're
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: continuing to work so focus on. So I mean, are
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: you saying that because there are police so many police
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: on leaves that we don't have enough police to be able.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: To do that.
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: No, Katie, what I'm saying is that we've seen impacts
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: over the past couple of years on our police and
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: those impacts are starting to ease, and so as operational
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: decisions are made stepping forward that is something that I
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: think is really important, and we do see some great
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: examples of that of police out on the beach, engaging
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: with the community and their finger on the pulse.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Look, I've said this to you before, but I'll say
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: it again. I know that you know, for a lot
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: of people listening, they'll be thinking, all right, the government's
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: saying all the right things. You know, you're saying that
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: it's unacceptable for somebody to be punched in the face unprovoked.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: It's unacceptable to see the kind of behavior that we
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: see on the streets of Alice Springs. But we are doing,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: you know, us several different things to try and have
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: an impact in this space. But what the community is
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: saying right now, whether you talk about Alice Springs or
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: whether you talk about Darwin, is that it's not working
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and they want the government to try something different. I
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: don't know exactly what that is, but they want the
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: government to look at anything that they can, whether it's legislation,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: whether it's you know, whether there are different ways that
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: the police could be doing things. They want the government
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: to pull, to pull out all the stops that they
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: possibly can. Are you doing that, yeah, Katie.
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: So in Alice Springs, we've established the Social Order Response Team.
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: It's soort Is, it's Akraman and that is when I
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: talk about that coordinated approach of both both across government
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: and non government and with business. And that's the purpose
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: of that is to have a response plan that is
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: what the community have asked for that ensures that we
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: do see that social order and those safety outcomes for
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: our community. So that is something that we've been doing
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: specifically and will continue that work. There's not one single
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: solution we can put in place, it's a number of mechanisms.
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: The Sunset School so these young people have got a
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: place to go to and can engage with cultural leadership
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: and be supported outside normal school hours, Katie, we put
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: a lot of effort into the school holiday plans, noting
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: that you know, sometimes kids when they're a bit bored
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: during the school holidays. That's been an enormous effort across
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: the territory in each of the regional centers. So that
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: gives your listeners an understanding of the different types of measures,
• 8:28
  Speaker 5: not just in that police law and order space, but
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: the factors that drive into it.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: How long will you monitor those programs and how long
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: will you let them run before you actually see whether
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: they are or are not working.
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: So that part of that aim or part of this
• 8:43
  Speaker 5: initiative is to look at the measures that we've got
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: and are they efficient and are they effective use of
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: both government resources but also government funded programs to achieve
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: those social order outcomes. So we do need to allow
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: some time for the measures, but we don't just need
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: to keep doing it for the sake of it. So
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: I would expect, you know, after a few months we
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: could ascertain whether things are working or whether we need
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: to change that response.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Now, your newest Member of Parliament, Brent Potter, he was
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: on the week that was a couple of weeks ago
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: when we were talking about these kinds of issues and
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: he said that you know, this type of thing does
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: take time, and he cited the issue of Afghanistan as
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: an example of how things can take a long time
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: to try and get a handle on. I mean, is
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: that what people need to expect here that this is
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: going to take a long time and they just need
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to be patient.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: No, Okatie.
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: People are frustrated and I hear that frustration in my
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: conversations with the community, and so that is why we
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: have put in place. For example, police are now working
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: a couple of times a week with the different patrollers
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: within the Youth Outreach team so that we can make
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: sure that we've got all of the agencies working together.
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: So in Alic Springs specifically, you've got police, but you've
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: also got the yurts, but you've also got Tongue in Gier,
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: the Talis security, the public housing safety offices. But it's
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: also taking that a step further to the Department of
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: Education and also Alice Springstown Council. So ensuring that we're
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: collecting all of the information and preventing behaviors before they
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: occur in such appalling incident.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: So I mean just taking into account all of those
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: different programs that you've rattled off in Alice Springs. But
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: then you know this week alone, obviously we've spoken to
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Daniel Rochford. He's told us about that situation with the
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: sixty one year old woman. That's just one situation. We
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: also got a pressure release a little bit earlier in
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the week about an eight and eleven year old allegedly
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: lighting a house on fire. Luckily it was empty and
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: there was nobody inside that home. You know, there are
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: a couple of examples from Alice Springs. If we've got
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: all of those programs operating at the moment, why do
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: you think there are still people going to bed at
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: night in that community and feeling like they are not safe?
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: And So, Katie, that eight and that eleven year old,
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: that is a child protection issue that should not be
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: at the point where crimes are occurring with police. We
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: need to identify those young people that they are at
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: risk and their behavior is risky and can potentially lead
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: to criminal activity, and in this case allegedly at has
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: And that's why it's so important that you've got these
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: agencies working together. So are you identifying truancy from school?
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: Is their child neglect type behaviors occurring, so that we
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: can have those systems working to support those families and
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: stop the behaviors before they happen.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: What do you think will happen with those kinds of
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: behaviors when you raise the age of criminal responsibility?
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: So, Katie, in terms of young people, we need to
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: make sure that there is the appropriate programs and the
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: appropriate supports because we can't turn our back on ten, twelve,
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: and fourteen year olds. Because we know the correlation between
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: child protection, the youth justice system, and the adult correctional facility.
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: It costs us a significant amount of money, hundreds of
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: thousands of dollars each year to detain a young person
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: and then if they go into the adult correctional facility
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: and end up in a cycle of crime. So that
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: is why we need to make sure we've got the
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: programs and the supports to stop that behavior as early
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: as possible.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: All Right, I want to be really honest here and
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: say that this is obviously not just an issue. Like
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: I said, that's impactings. I mean last week I spoke
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: to a man whose home was invaded and a knife
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: allegedly pulled on him by teenagers in his own kitchen.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: So a knife from his own kitchen at his house
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: in Marara. Over the weekend, a woman woke to find
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: teenagers in her room. Now she's allegedly screened and hid
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: under the blankets. Those teenagers allegedly hit her over the
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: head with a weapon. So what I want to know
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: from your chief Minister is what impact do you think
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: that crime like this is having on territories. Oh, it's disgusting,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: it's unacceptable, and for those individuals, I certainly acknowledge that
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: the pain and suffering from those incidents is But what
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: I want your listeners to understand is that it's not
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: just police. We're not just letting it get to the
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: crisis point that we've got a range of government services,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: a range of government funding that goes to non government organizations,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: but there are penalties if people do the wrong thing.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: There is tougher bail reforms that we've put in place
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: so that they can understand those consequences of their behavior.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Do you think we need to look at tweaking any
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: of those things. Do you think that you need to
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: look at any legislative reform or anything else that could
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: change so that we see some movement in this space.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what the answer is, but the
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: real sense that I'm getting from the community at the moment,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: and when I speak to people like that who had
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: his home invaded, you know, his wife doesn't want to
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: stay at home on our own anymore. I spoke to Chris,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: a bloke out in Palmerston who was in a similar
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: situation a week before, who you know. He said, I
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: just feel like I want to leave the Northern Territory.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: But the fact is we all live here because we
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: actually love the place. We want it to do really well.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: We want to see the place the best that it
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: can possibly be. But at the moment, this issue of
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: crime is just holding us back. Katie.
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: In terms of the first part of your question around legislation,
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: we have made changes and what the statistics and I
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: haven't looked at them in the last couple of weeks,
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: but what they are showing is that it is different
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: individuals and I'm talking about young people here that are
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: coming into contact, reoffending, into contact with the criminal justice system.
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: So we're working through those statistics, and I know Minister
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: Kate Warden speaks to you regularly and sh'd be keen
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: to talk in more detail around that, around the coordination
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: between territory families and police. But these are difficult issues
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: to solve and I'll always acknowledge the issue. I'm always
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: open to the ideas. It doesn't have to be my
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: idea for it to be an idea that government progresses with.
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: And that's why it's really important that we keep working
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: with the community and all that work in this space.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: All Right, we are going to have to move along
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: because we know that obviously teachers have overwhelmingly voted on
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: their latest payoffer. They've voted it down. It's becoming pretty
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: clear that the government is going to have to take
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: a bit of a hit here despite the fact that
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: realistically we can't afford it, and a pay increase is
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: going to have to be offered. When are you going
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: to do this?
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Katie, And as a former teacher, I know that
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: that offer within the increments and it provided some opportunity
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: for senior teachers to have an additional level of teaching,
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: but we've heard from our teachers that they don't accept
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: that office.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: So we're finding and you mentioned it and.
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: Asking the question that balance between maintaining the territory budget
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: whilst acknowledging that we have seen a cost of living,
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: particularly in the last few months, that even the RBA
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: didn't predict.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: So it's going to happen.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: So Katie, what.
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: We're doing is working through those responsibilities. People just say, oh,
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: you're the government, just fund it. We can't just print money.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: We have to work out in terms of negotiating good
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: faith and putting more offers on the table.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: Where do those dollars come from?
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: And so will that only be for teachers or will
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: it be for other frontline workers as well. So, Katie,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: across the NTG, there's a number of enterprise bargaining agreements
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: that are being negotiated. We have been negotiating in good faith,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: but we've certainly heard loud and clear from both the
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: teachers and a range of unions around what they'd like
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: to see. So do you think that that's going to
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: happen in the coming weeks, because I mean, we are
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: talking about we're obviously all in school holidays at the moment,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: and we know that realistically, by the time we get
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: to the Christmas holidays that's going to be too late.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Teachers will have decided whether they're coming back to the
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: territory for next year or they're Nottie.
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: What I can say is that we're trying to find
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: that balance between maintaining the territory budget and at the
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: same time acknowledging that there has been rising cost of living,
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: interest rate rises, inflation, and so how can we certainly
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: going forward negotiate with those parameters.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: So what savings measures could you potentially find?
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: Well, Katie, we don't want to be in a situation
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: where we overspend and we potentially have to cut things.
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: So it's looking at the budget and where we can
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: make savings so that we can then redirect that.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: And it's not an easy task. But what I can.
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: Say, particularly there's a number of your listeners Katie that
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: working corrections education for example, and those agreements are being negotiated.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: We've heard from them, will continue to negotiate in good faith.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: So not looking at cutting frontline workers or anything like
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: that to try to then allow this pay increase but
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: there are going to have to be some savings measures made.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Do you mean sort of when it comes to the
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: wages bill or across the board.
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: So Katie, we're not the CLP. We're not going to
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: cut teachers, we're not going to cut nurses. But what
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: we're doing is looking at our budget. So, Katie's incredibly complex.
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: We have our own source revenue, we have GST that
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: comes in. Do we have any ability to create more
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: owned source revenue? Are there any areas? And it is
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: a fairly small budget in terms of government budgets, but
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: can we make any savings? Can we work within agencies?
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: Because to me, those teachers, nurses, those people on the
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: front line as well as the administrative staff that support them,
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: do an incredibly important job.
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: So it is a challenge, but we're working through it,
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: all right.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: So the coming weeks you reckon.
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: There is absolutely Katie, I know your listeners, We've spoken
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: about this a number of times.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: There's a sense of urgency for me around this issue,
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: all right.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I do want to ask you as well. In Queensland
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: on the weekend, police officers accepted an eleven percent pay
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: rise so over three years, plus a payment of up
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: to three percent per year if CPI exceeds annual wage increases.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Did you see that offer?
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Katie, And so when it's eleven percent, I think
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: that's a three plus three plus different percentage increases over
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: the years.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: And so they're the factors that we work through as
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: we look at this.
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: So it's not just you know what we pay now
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: in this financial year or next financial year. It's the
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: compounding impact to the territory budget. And Katie, I know
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: some people go, you're the government, just borrow money. If
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: you make significant financial decisions that change, they look at
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: your ratings. They could downgrade you, which means you aren't
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: able to borrow money or you have to pay a
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: high interest rate.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: So it's not straightforward to solve.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: But presently, have you annoyed that your predecessors kind of
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: left you in this situation?
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: Oh, Katie, I'm not one to place blame. I just
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: get on with the job of working through it. And
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: so I think that it's incredibly important. We've seen significant
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: change of cost of living. Interest rates are predicted to
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: continue to rise for a little bit. And I know
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: mums and dads territorians. Doesn't matter how old you are
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: when you're doing that grocery shop. It's gone up dramatically
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: over the past few months. If yeah, there's no doubt
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: about that.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Hey, speaking of cost of living, there is a couple
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: of things that I still want to get through very quickly.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Petrol prices. We know the fuel excise it is set
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: to end well tonight, basically midnight tonight. Do you think
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: we're going to see big increases?
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: So the ariple c are watching this very closely. So basically,
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: the fuel retailers buy the fuel at a certain price,
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: they feel their tanks up, and they then sell it
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: to you. When they finish that tank, they're then buying
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: it at the higher price with the excise no longer
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: being waived. And that excise, Katie, it's important that for
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: your listeners to know that goes to the federal government
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: who then spend that on roads and infrastructure for transport.
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: But they are watching very closely to make sure that
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: we don't just see a snap increase tonight. That we
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: do see it flow on, but it will flow on.
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: We certainly have taken a number of steps, and we've
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: spoken about this in detail, around making sure that we
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: promote competition and prevent any opportunistic profiteering.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: So how seriously are you taking the oppositions legislation that
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: they're going to be presenting. As I understand it, next
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: time Parliament sits Katie.
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: That legislation, we will be briefed on and I think
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: that's been arranged with one of the ministers, so we'll
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: certainly look at the legislation and what it intends to do.
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: But I've written to the six field retailers that are
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: here in the territory, and I've also written to that
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: A Triple C. I have received response from some of
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: the retailers. I have also received a response from the
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: A Triple CE. Minister Lawla is meeting with the A
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: Triple C. I think that's today and they've assured me
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: that they're monitoring what's happening in the territory.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: What of those retailers are they full of excuses?
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: Do you think that for your listeners to understand here
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: in the territory, we have a number of retailers and
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: they have small volumes that they sell of fuel as
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: opposed to some high volume places. There's a couple of
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: retailers that don't have any retail So it's simply the fuel,
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: and that's why you often see those with slightly cheaper fuel.
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: They don't have the other you.
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: Know, the kitchens and the food and service station supplies
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: that they sell. They do have thin margins, is my understanding.
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: But Katie, this is an area that the A Triple
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: Ce have assured us that particularly in the Northern Territory,
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: they are watching.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to catch up with Northern Territory Consumer
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Affairs Commissioner Sandy Otto in just a couple of minutes
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: before I let you go, though, I know that you
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: are heading off to National Cabinet.
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: So heading off to that meeting today, yes, Katie, So
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: heading to National Cabinet with the premiers from the States
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: and also the Chief Minister of the Act and the
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: Prime Minister. There's a number of issues that are on
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: the agenda, including workforce and that's something that here in
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: the Territory is incredibly important, but also isolation requirements with COVID,
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: So there's a number of briefings that will be provided
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: with and it's incredible.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: How am I going to be scrap.
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: It, Katie, I'll certainly let you know, but it's incredibly
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: important that I am at these meetings because we don't
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: just want an East Coast centric discussion. We need to
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: make sure that regional and Remote Australia is at the
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: table very quick one.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Before I let you go. Regarding the OPTAs start breach,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: is the government doing anything to support victims? Yes, Katie,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory government officials have obviously been in contact
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: with the Australian government that there's anything that needs to
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: be done. But I understand that the Minister for Transport
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: will announce later today if you want to get a
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: replacement driver's license, yes, that we won't charge you for that.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: More information to you, Katie, because I know your listener's
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: precautionary step. I know it's a bit of a hustle
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: to go into MVR to get that license, but it
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: could be very worthwhile. Well, that is good news because
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: I know that it's something that they announced in Queensland
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: and I think that the reality of it is, you know,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: if your info has been stolen from you, then surely
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: you should be able to get your license for free.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: So I think that that's a good move.
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll get those details to you, Katie.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Chief Minister Natasha Files. We better leave it there, thank you.
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: As always, take care